In spite of Real Madrid's long and illustrious history, there is one title that still evades them: the Laureus World Sports Award for Team of the Year. The event which takes place in Monaco gathers the cream of sport across the world under one roof in order to honour achievements of the past year.
While Los Blancos have been nominated for the Best Team category - for what is now the third time in a row - they have been pipped to the post by Team Mercedes (Formula 1) last year and the Chicago Cubs (Baseball) the year before.
Even after claiming their second consecutive Champions League title in 2017, it was not enough to gain top spot, but it was understandable given that only three football teams have ever picked up the award since 2000: Manchester United in the inaugural year, Barcelona (2012) and Bayern Munich (2014).
For this prize in what is known as the 'Oscars of Sport', Santiago Solari's men will do battle with the French World Cup-winning national team, the Golden State Warriors (basketball), the European Ryder Cup team (golf), the Norwegian Winter Olympics team - and an old 'foe' in the form of Team Mercedes.
In other news the Los Blancos 2018/19 performance has been below, the early kick-offs in LaLiga Santander do not suit Real Madrid, who have won just one of their last six games that have kicked off at 12:00 or 13:00 CET, and they have lost their last three in a row. The 2-1 defeat to Girona is the second time it has happened at the Santiago Bernabeu this season, following the 2-1 loss to Levante in October. It is not Santiago Solari's first morning humiliation either, following the 3-0 defeat to Eibar at Ipurua.

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